I'll start off with a few thoughts on 86 part 1, and then move into why I overall ended up giving it a 4. There are positives, but I don't care about this anime enough to make a huge detailed review.

Part 1 for me was a decent opener for the series, gave us quite a few interesting storylines, and definitely had me hooked to continue watching for part 2. The animation is great, the world itself is quite interesting although at points a little confusing how things ended up the way they did. They have some characters that are worth watching develop and you build an attention around seeing if they survive, but all of that kind of dies in part 2.

So, here's why. When they arrive in Giad, it begins what I'd call the character development episodes. They are all built for you to see the real people outside of the conflict that kept them going through part 1. I enjoyed this quite a bit, but I have no idea in this world why they made them just do a U-Turn and end up going back to the frontlines. The entirety of part 1 is about escaping their slavery. If they will manage to fight in this war, and come out of it all alive. They did. But they're going back in. What?! I would totally understand this if one of them like Reaper went back in, because of a feeling of not fitting in with "normal" people. The fact that all of them went back just makes me ask the question, what was the point of part 1 then if they were just going to stay out there?

Only a minor thing, but I also disliked the character of Frederica, this is a trope at this point in anime. To have a bossy, rude, annoying little child that everyone still likes for some reason, randomly sounding like a 60 year old wise granny every now and then when they talk with complete and utter maturity using the knowledge of someone far older. Just to then revert 5 seconds later back into an annoying little kid. I haven't met a lot of 10 year olds, but not once have any of them suddenly changed their expression and started talking about morbid pragmatism and/or interpersonal philosophy.

As for my next biggest gripe, what is going on in San Magnolia? Either I'm dumb as all hell, or they purposely made everything nebulous when it comes to the ins and outs of that country. Who the hell runs it? Why is everyone seemingly so lazy, shitty, and apathetic? How the hell did they make this huge nation with these attitudes? Why is the future of their entire country built around one 16 girl old girl that does everything solo for the most part? Have you seen real life governments? There are people surrounded by people making decisions also in groups surrounded by other people who answer to hundreds of other people that then set up groups to look after those hundred as well as others. They made it seem like there's five people running the entire country, and they don't even know that they're about to be overran? Huh? Compare this to Gian where it's somewhat defined who runs the country, how he does it, and who works with him. Add that into the ambiguity of the history of this country, where they're at and how they got there, it's quite hard to understand why a lot of this is even happening.

Maybe the same point as last, or a new one. But holy damn did they blue ball us with the Legion. So much of part 1 was focused around how much ground they're gaining against the 86, and in turn, the Alba. It was told well enough that they built up our expectations to see either a clash, or a complete massacre in San Magnolia. Nope. It all happened off-screen. Jesus Christ. Really? We go from San Magnolia, to Gian, back to San Magnolia and it has all happened. We now just get to watch the aftermath of the initial invasion.

I feel there isn't much point in me weighting in on what many others have already critiqued when it comes to Lena, and the politics touched on in this anime. @SingleH does a really good job of expressing that it's all such surface level stuff, I'd recommend checking out their review. What 86 says with their story is essentially "war bad, racism bad, discrimination bad, bad people bad". Like yeah, we're not fucking 5 years old, we all know this shit, so reach in a bit deeper than that and go beyond the basic.

Either way, I felt part 1 was a really good intro to the series and had me excited to see part 2, but this has made me feel like I wasted all my time on this anime.